Monday 5 October 2015

ANALYSIS of MILITIAS & JIHADI GROUPS IN LIBYA 30.9.2015

Since the fall of Gaddafi in 2011 but mainly after 2012, Libya has been the scene of clashes between hundreds of armed factions. Besides the regular army that answers to the government led by PM Abdullah Al Thinni - Tobruk Govt, there are more than 1,600 between autonomous groups and militias operating in the country.

The regular Libyan army is well armed but not very organized and with little fighting desire. It consists of more than 35 brigades, some permanent, other multipurpose. The command is in the hands of General Khalifa Haftar , who led the Libyan troops in the war in Chad and refused to obey the order of Gaddafi blaming the defeat of his own soldiers. Haftar emigrated later in the USA, by renting a house on the Potomac close to both the CIA and the State Department. Which says a lot about his relationship with Washington.

The Libyan armed forces are equipped with excellent precision CZ99 pistols, produced by Serbian company Zastava and copied by Israeli KSC as Golan. Always come from Serbia: Zastava M21 rifles, an advanced copy of the AK 47 Kalashnikov submachine guns precise as Russians but adaptable to NATO caliber bullets; Zastava M07 sniper rifles, designed on the basis of the old Mauser 98, able to shoot over a kilometer depending on lens used; anti-tank rifles Zastava M93 Black Arrow, able to hit more than two kilometers away. Another assault rifle available regular Libyan army is the Belgian FNF2000, modern modular weapon Focus. It was, until recently, provided services Belgian and French.
  
The Libyans have access to many Soviet-made weapons, such as semi-automatic pistol TT-33. He could not miss the AK 47 assault rifle that the old, as they said the Soviet soldiers, "not jams ever." Among the assault rifles of Soviet origin are also the AKM (ancestor of the AK 47), the RPK (a rifle longest and accurate dell'AKM), the dshk (heavy machine guns), the gun PK, Deghtyaryov the light machine gun, machine gun multirole Zastava M84, Dragunov sniper rifles and Zastava M91 and M02 heavy machine gun Coyote.

As to tanks, Libyan army owns T-34, T-55, T-62 and T-72, all Soviet-made. The troop is managed with BTR-60, eight-wheeled armored. Models included are the small BRDM-2 (Soviet) tanks BMP-1, the most modern BMP-3 (also armed for the attack), the MIMR (pick up concrete product to Abu Dhabi, the Libyans do 169 still in service).

Regular Libyan army weapons also came from Italian companies (20 Puma Afv detectors with remote weapons) and US (200 old Humvee).

Libyan artillery is formed by Nora B-52 (Serb), the BM-21 multiple rocket launchers GRAD, Italian Palmaria (155 mm), from small portable rocket launchers Type 63, the bazooka Carl Gustav (84 mm), from lightweight rocket launchers M40 (American) and the 'anti M79Osa (Serbia).

The helicopters are available to the Serbs Pegaz 011 (Reconnaissance and Surveillance) and the Russians MilMi-14 (anti-submarine), I-17 (troop carrier) and I-24 (transport and attack).

Libyan Army soldiers demonstrate unarmed combat techniques during a military graduation parade for trainees in Tripoli(Tripoli, training of soldiers of the regular army of Libya) 
The security apparatus of the Government of Tobruk
The government of Tobruk can count on a number of departments of the security forces. The Directorate of National Security is the police force. It reports directly to Ministry of Interior, its commander is Mahmoud Sherif and operates with 9,500 elements with light armament of the Libyan army.

Even the Anti-Crime Unit responds to Interior Ministry. Along with Special Forces of Deterrence contrasts drug dealing and trafficking. Well armed with small arms, these two groups are each formed by 1,500 agents.

The Guard Facilities for the Oil consists of about 16 thousand items, which include small arms and, in some cases, pieces of heavy artillery. The body is connected to the eastern Libyan tribes. Its main task is to protect the oil fields (oil fields, refining plants and terminals).

Military forces loyal to the government of Tripoli
Fajr Libya (Libyan Dawn) , the armed force of the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya, has 15 thousand items. Reports directly to the Islamist government in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Mohamed Khalifa Ghwail and expression of the General National Congress, former parliament restored in the capital. Alba is fighting against the Libyan army and Libyan contrasts offensives groups affiliated to the Islamic State in eastern Libya. It owns numerous heavy weapons (of the same type as those of the army of Haftar) and has at least 56 T-62 tanks, as well as numerous armed pickup.

In June 2015 it was announced the formation of a new coalition of armed militias, formally called "Face of Determination" but commonly known as "Libyan Dawn 2" . A notify was Saleh Badi, radical political figure of Measured and former member of the General National Congress. "Libyan Dawn 2" includes some militias of Misrata and part of those of Tripoli until recently allied Libyan Dawn. These include the brigade of the revolutionaries of Tripoli Haithan Tajouri, the brigade Nawasi Rada and the forces led by Abdul Rauf Kara, furniture Forces and members of the militia Fursan Janzur.
  
Armed militias
The Operations Room of the Libyan Revolutionary is a group pro Qaeda, author October 2013 of lightning kidnapping former PM Ali Zeidan. It collects various militias, all source or Salafi Al Qaeda and operates with 300 elements. It has several artillery pieces, many small arms (similar to those of the old Libyan army), a dozen T-72 tanks, of light transport vehicles, and Toyota MIMR.

Zintan Brigade is a group of 23 armed militias, all from Zintan and the Nafusa mountains. They are arrayed against both General National Congress (parliament Islamist Tripoli) and jihadist groups. They have a good chain of command which manages at least 5,300 elements led by former Navy officer Mukhtar Khalifa Shahub. Well armed, they have many tanks and several artillery pieces. From the time of Zintan Brigade operating in contact with the army of Khalifa Haftar and also own a satellite TV channel, Libya Al Watan . Connected to the Zintan Brigade is Brigadier Al Saiqa , the Libyan special forces unit. His militiamen are lightly armed. They have about ten Mi-21 helicopters. They also have a good network of devices of recognition-identification of the objectives of Soviet manufacture. Saiqa to work with 5,000 items and joined the armies of Haftar before May 2014, when General launched the '' Operation Dignity "against Islamist factions in Cyrenaica.
  
The Force Shield for Libya was founded in 2012, shortly after the fall of Gaddafi. He has structured relations with Al Qaeda. Shield-1 is related to the Shura Council of the revolutionaries in Benghazi, defined as a terrorist organization by the government of Tobruk. Shield Western fighting in the south and east of Tripoli and is connected to the leader of Al Qaeda Abd al-Muhsin al Libi, who was a member of the old jihadist group Libyan Islamic Fighting Group , which the regime gheddafiano through Al Saif Al Islam Gaddafi, had managed in terms of substantial support for the old government of Colonel. Shield Central is what won the Tripoli airport, has a total of 68 T-62 tanks and 35 T-72, largely acquired with initial funding of the central government. In total, it can count on 5,100 men.

Al Qaqa Brigade consists, according to reliable sources, as many as 18,000 fighters, is well supplied with small arms and artillery, but also deals with smuggling and drug trade, as well as kidnappings of politicians in the House of Representatives (parliament of Tobruk) despite being under the control of the Interior Ministry and has the task of protecting the members of parliament and the government led by Abdullah Al Thinni.

Sawaiq brigade is always originally from Zintan, composed of elements of Zintan residents in Tripoli, with 2,000 men, weapons and uniforms similar to those of the army of Haftar.

Brigades of Misrata are a group of about 40,000 items, with about 800 tanks, all Soviets, and over 2,000 light vehicles with artillery and anti-tank weapons.

The Brigade of 17 February Martyrs, explicitly Islamist and Salafist, operates with 12 battalions and is funded by Ministry of Defence of Libya. The military are at least 3,500. It has light and heavy weapons, a group of major focus with 12 T-72.

Jihadist groups Ansar Al Sharia , responsible for the killing of the American consul in Benghazi Christopher Stevens in 2012, was born as an offshoot of Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). It is composed of 15,000 well-armed men, with transport facilities consist of pickup with light artillery on board. Ansar Al Sharia in recent months has lost many of its militants, attracted by the emergence of an Islamic Caliphate in Libya and, above all, to pay and conditions of engagement clearly favorable. In late September categorically denied any alleged affiliation with Islamic State.

An Islamic State militant holds a gun while standing behind what are said to be Ethiopian Christians in Wilayat Fazzan, in this still image from an undated video made available on a social media website(ISIS  April 2015
DAESH (ISIS) role is evolving. In early July ISIS lost control of Derna, his stronghold since October 2014, local Shura Council of Islamic Youth had declared allegiance to Caliph Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.
Despite this defeat, its influence in Libya is growing steadily. Currently it controls Sirte, the hometown of Kadafi supporters, more than 200 kilometers coast from Sirte, Ben Jawad and Nawfaliya, an airport (Al-Ghardabiya), water distribution systems of Great Man Made River (through which fresh water comes from the Sahara to the coast), oil & gas. It is controversial at the time the presence of ISIS in Tripoli, where some of its subsidiaries have entered cells in contrast to the Libyan Dawn militias.

Among other jihadist groups more active there is  Shura Council of Combatants of Derna, training revolutionary Libyan jihadist which is fighting against the Islamic State in its former stronghold.

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